AMD64 bit

[BillR]

I am running Mepis 8 (AMD64), downloaded the community edition via the Debian package and all is well. I'd like to buy the professional edition.

I've downloaded the demo and it fails to start up
qcad_demo: error while loading shared libraries: libSM.so.6 ... no such file or directory

That module is in /usr/lib. I assume that this is a 32/64 bit problem.

Is there a 64bit build?

Ideas?

[andrew]

You will have to install the package "ia32-libs" (32bit compatibility).

See also:
http://www.ribbonsoft.com/rsforum/viewtopic.php?t=438

[BillR]

Thanks -- that worked.

But...

Now I need to decide if I want to run a 64 bit build of the free edition or a 32 bit build of the $ edition.

I guess I can't see why there isn't a 64 bit build since so many of us are now running MP 64 bit machines.

[BillR]

Ok, so I decided that I'd go ahead and pop for the professional, even if it is a 32-bit build.

The application ran fine until I went for help -- nada. The faq told me to delete the ~/.assistant directory, I did, reloaded qcad-prof and again, nada.

Now the message says that it can't find libgthread-2.0.so.0. My guess -- yet another 32/64 bit problem since it is in /usr/lib.

Lots of free programs come with proper installers which both solve these sorts of problems, install the program properly in a system directory, and also integrate the program into the KDE and/or GNOME desktops.

Why can't this one?

[BillR]

OK, I've solved my problem...

The missing 32 bit module (libgthread-2.0.so.0) is in Debian package ia32-libs-gtk. Installation of this package solved the problem and help now works.

In searching forum threads, looking for a solution, I found several where the author assumed that one could invoke the search function of Synaptic (using the module name) and find the package which includes the module. That does not work. Synaptic will show you module names only for installed packages -- not much of a help since the problem is that the package is not installed. Further, even if the package is installed, there is no "search" other than eyeballing the (very long) list or copy/patching it into a text editor where you have a search capability.

You need to go to http://debian.org/distrib/packages and use their "search the contents of packages".

To complete the "installation", I've also gone into the KDE control center, KDE Components, File Associations, and added the association between *.dxf files and qcad.

I don't know -- it seems to me that a commercial product shouldn't require this sort of hacking.

[andrew]

Bill: Thanks for sharing your problem and solution with us.

I agree that installing QCAD should not be more difficult than unpacking it, which it indeed is for the vast majority of QCAD users. However, there are simply too many different Linux distributions and versions thereof to provide one generic package that works out of the box on all Linux systems.

QCAD 3 might come with an installer for Linux, but I doubt that that will solve problems like the ones you have experienced.

[schinkelm]

Will QCAD 3 ship with a 64-Bit executable? Why is the current stable version not available as 64-Bit?

[johnR]

A 64-bit version would definitely be useful. I've been using 64-bit Linux for most of my computing for the last four years. I got rid of my last 32-bit software about a year ago when a 64-bit version of FlashPlayer was released. This stuff is no longer new. Please consider the possibility of releasing a 64-bit version in the not too distant future. I'm sure quite a few users would appreciate it.